Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Friday, October 20, 2017

The twelfth edition of the annual party out of bounds that
is FUNTASTIC came to an end 5 days ago. We attendees are decompressing and wondering
how it’s possible to throw such a shindig and actually gain momentum rather
than lose it, probably something to do with gravity. Or maybe even those laws
of physics that Scotty from Star Trek used to babble on about?

The on-board currency

Whatever the
hell it is, if you could bottle the atmosphere in this outta space bar then
you’d really be on to something. That’s why folks go every year. To cavort in
the UFO and let the freak flag fly. Southern Culture On The Skids even had a
song (from their latest album no less) about such activity. However, as ever,
I’m getting ahead of me’sel’. I was lucky enough to arrive in Alicante to be able to hitch
a ride into the ‘drome. (Gracias Russ + Saskia)

A hen party arrived just ahead
of us so that delayed getting to the ship. The opening stramash was in full
swing and The Hollywood Sinners were banging out that racket in the way that
only they can. The Meows(from Barcelona) followed and they specialise in
Dictators-type activity which is never a bad thing. I was too busy blethering
to watch much of Shannon and the Clams and they did just fine without me.

The opening party ticket action

T’was an early rise for a dazed breath of air on Friday
morning and later in the day, I made it to the beach and even went into the
Med. It was warm. Anyway, it was there that Sara and I plotted some Sesentafest
activity before heading back to prepare for what was always likely to be an
extended session. It was time to pick up the wristbands that would allow us to
get on board and John Schooley started the ball rolling with his one man band.
It was still light outside and the joint was just filling up.

Me in a terrible wig with Sissophonic Cheryl

(Pic by Cheryl Abramson)

I missed Jon and
the Vons and Hobocop, the latter are a variation on S&TC because I met some
friends that I hadn’t seen since the previous flight. The Mindreaders brought
this year’s taste of Medway to the Mediterranean next by providing a twist to
some punk rock standards that really hit the spot with the crowd. It was at
this point that I noticed Steven Tagg-Randall wasn’t shooting film. I still
don’t know why. I miss being able to catch up.

I caught snatches of Futuro Terror and The Kaisers. Both
raised the excitement level. Dirty Fences did nothing for me so I took that as
an opportunity to go put on the terrible Dracula wig that I’d picked up in
Asda. My mate “Heino” reckoned it was a bit (Dave) Vanian. Anyway, I managed to
alarm Stella but not Maitane who busted me right off. The Neanderthals were
perfect to close the live music selection on this Friday 13th. The
numbskull frat rock was just what the soused crowd needed. Daftie reworks of
garage classics. Todd-o-phonic Todd(Abramson) led the DJ action inside when
they were done and it went hell for leather until 8am. Not Todd but a rolling
collection of ace spinners through the night.

Crackhouse - Damn they were good!

Disorientation was setting in at this point. This was
further confounded when I tried to have the apartment building reception book
me a cab. I had to have the guy bring a calendar to point that no, it wasn’t
Sunday already. I took a birl down to Rockstar Bar where there’s always a
happening and everybody seems like the night before never happened. There’s
never anyone that looks like a burst ball. You get those special powers, I
tells ya. OK, we’ve established that it was still Saturday and it was important
that I get up to the venue this year to see Crackhouse. They include mi amigo
Mr Bratto. Little did I know that they would provide the assault that probably
my favourite of the whole shebang. They left me giggling like a little girl by
the sheer magnitude of their stupid punk rock majesty. Puy saw me. I’m guilty
as charged.

The Pacifics hail from Dublin and they’re like The
Undertones crossed with Untamed Youth. Todd was smitten. Les Lullies are some
of the guys from Les Grys Grys. They’re the Hellacopters/Aussie Rock take on
what that band does. If they provide a gateway drug for youngsters to the stuff
they plunder then I’m down with it. They throw all the shapes.

Control Freaks started fine and fell away but that was OK.
There were people to hang in the outdoors with. The Gruesomes picked up where
The Neanderthals left off. The Montreal combo were very entertaining but with
only the front man retaining the hairstyles that put them on the map during the
big garage scare of the 80s. The Revelators really whipped up the room with
their stripped down blues holler. The Midwest monster precursor to folks like
Daddy Long Legs.

Which brings us to The Schizophonics, I’d seen them in
Edinburgh where a meagre crowd was treated to an animated set that left some of
us breathless at the hyper-animated antics of front man, Pat Beers. He and Lety
(drums) are also in The Little Richards and also the El Vez punk rock revue so
we’re talking high calibre. The recordings thus far suggest a strong whiff of
the MC5. Live, there’s a lot more going on – musically. Pat’s acrobatics seem
to suggest that he’s not playing because how could he? In front of the packed
FDC crowd, the energy level crackled throughout the room and afterwards I heard
some chatter that suggested they were playing over a hard drive triggered
during the set. People have gotten so attuned to listening to paint dry that
they can’t accept this velocity of show. If you don’t like the music then fine,
we can debate that but to gossip or harrumph with accusations of miming is
really fucking short-sighted. If you flat-out don’t like them then that's OK but they’re about
as far from faking it in these hyper-dupe as you can get.

There’s a Scientists/Spacemen 3 type pummel nestled in
there that maybe isn't evident in the recordings (yet). I also detect a hint of that sound that bands like Husker Du or those on
SST were known to brandish. I don’t care for any of that but on this occasion
it added to what is already a solid rock n’ roll foundation. This suggests to
me that they might court appeal outside the circle of the converted. Encoring
with “Looking At You”, I think that Rob Tyner would be proud. This rendition
made me think of Matt and Kim if they had a motor city transfusion.

Southern Culture On The Skids will need no introduction to
NBTsters. Something that really registered with me was how much Rick Miller
looked like Lou Whitney. And for a minute I wondered what it would have been
like for The Skeletons to let rip on the ship. These folks are veterans. They
put on a great show and well, when the closed with the Ronnie Cook/Link Wray
double header the place went berserk as only the Funtasticos can.

SCOTS have the Funtastic ladies dish out the 8 piece box

SCOTS scooted a little after 3 and because of a logistical
glitsch (I made an arse of the booking) I needed to get back to
pack, check out and take a cab to the airport at stupid o’ clock. Next year
I’ll be staying an extra day. It starts with feeling like there’s all the time in the
world then all of a sudden you have to leave for a flight at stupid o’ clock
when all of your friends are still howling at the October moon. Several hundred
Goo Goo Mucks going radge like it’s going out of fashion.

I managed to locate and bid farewell to a bunch of the kids and
duly beamed myself back to terra firma just after the pyrotechnics. Meanwhile,
the ship continued to birl for a few more hours. The moon would have been down
and the sun would have been on the way up when the 8am descent into Benidorm
got underway. I was on a different, way less appealing craft at that point wishing I was still giving it laldy with my homies old and new.

Tuesday, October 03, 2017

Search This Blog

A wee bit of background, etc.

This all kicked off as a print (Xerox) magazine in 1977 and now it's on the interweb. Named after the title track on The Dictators Go Girl Crazy (40 years old in 2015) the purpose has always been to uphold what’s good and pure and right in terms of rock’n’roll and its satellites.

It has nothing, nada, nowt to do with any festival(s) that devalue our namesake so don't send mp3's or anything else with regard to setting course for a career in the music business or anywhere else.

Take a look at what goes on here and if you think your fare fits then drop a line and maybe we can work something out.

I plan to put PDFs of all physical issues up here eventually and in addition, all Rockin’ Bones, Watch This and Fuzzbuzz.Maybe Psychedelic Basement, etc from Sounds too so that everything is in one place. Some of the quality of the source material isn’t terribly good but it’s all I have to work with. It will take some time. The 3 page pilot issue, “NBT 0” from September 1976 never survived as far as I know. Some of the content is a wee bit embarrassing at this juncture but every journey has to start someplace, right?